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An anonymous tipster has leaked the sharpest image yet of Palm's upcoming Centro smartphone to Mobility Today. Due to become available from Sprint in October, the Palm OS-run Centro is supposed to be Palm's first low-cost ($99 with two-year contract) smartphone, and its most compact model ever.

As you can see from the image, which shows a surprisingly stylish and handsome device, it looks like Centro will include the same instant messaging (IM) application as the Treo 755p, another Palm OS smartphone.

The CDMA device will support the faster Rev.A flavor of EV-DO for Sprint's cellular-wireless 3G data network. Its small touch screen is supposed to run at a high 320 x 320-pixel resolution. And the QWERTY thumb-keyboard, which is very tiny—maybe even too tiny for some adults—is said to be made up of little rubbery bumps.

If you add together the low price and the apparent emphasis of IM, it becomes apparent that Centro will be targeted at a younger demographic than the Treo. That would be a smart move on Palm’s part. It could expand the market for their devices at a time when many are questioning the company’s judgment, with the new Foleo Mobile Companion and inability to come up with anything new exciting in its flagship Treo line. T-Mobile has done fantastically well with its youth and message-oriented Sidekicks, for example.

Sprint will reportedly have exclusive rights to the smartphone for 90 days, after which expect America's largest CDMA/EV-DO carrier and second largest mobile operator overall, Verizon Wireless, to pick it up.

Early rumors said Centro would sport a microSD slot, a camera, and Bluetooth, all fairly standard in cell phones today. A GSM version of this smartphone is said to be in the works.